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Sorry to be posting here again, but I am feeling somewhat distressed and stumped. I think I am having a problem with the peripheral vision on my left side. When I hold I test myself, I can see something at 95 degrees away from the center on with right eye, but only about 70 degrees from the center with my left.
I am concerned about this because I just got back from an optometrist (a new guy) where I did poorly on one one these tests where you need to press a button when you see a little flashing light. I sat there for a long periods of time not doing anything because I did see any flashing lights at all. Then I would see some lights. I was concerned about the test results and my optometrist told me that there was almost certainly nothing to worry about. I didn’t have glaucoma (I have never had an eye pressure test that was out of normal range … and I have had a lot of intraocular pressure tests). My retina looked really healthy, according to him. I am not diabetic, or even “pre-diabetic.” He attributed my poor results to: 1) my not being used to the exam or 2) the person giving me the exam not giving me enough time.
I have seen a slew of eye professionals this year. I have gotten my peripheral vision tested a lot and I always seem to be having problems with it. At another optometrist, they called in a second nurse to try with me because the first one failed (or maybe it was me). I couldn’t see fingers where I was supposed to see fingers at a number of cataract surgeons I consulted with. They (or their assistants) didn’t say anything, but I did see something like “visual field defect” in my visit notes. But I never used to have a “visual field defect.”
So, in spite of my new optometrist trying to allay my fears I think there might indeed be something wrong. But I am not sure what to do about it or whether I should even take action at this point. Normally, the advice would be to go see an eye professional, but it feels like that is basically all I have done over the past year. I literally cannot even remember how many visits I have had, but I have had at least 19 eye-related medical visits in the last calendar year (optometrists; cataract surgeons, retinal surgeon) and am feeling weary. But on the plus side, my vision is now (two surgeries later) 20/20 in both eyes!
Anyway, what could this possibly be? I did a quick Google search for peripheral vision loss, and I don’t seem to have any conditions mentioned. I was wondering maybe an eye stroke, but I don’t have hypertension, heart disease, etc. and am still young.
And what to do? Who should I see about it if I’ve already seen a lot of specialists and they have apparently just noted that I have a defect without further ado or even mentioning it to me (just writing it in my notes)?
BTW, the eye with the peripheral vision problems was not the eye with the operations. It is in my “good” eye.
Is this peripheral vision issue affecting your daily life in any noticeable way? With due respect, you may be creating a "problem" where none exists because you've been so hyper-focused on your other eye diagnoses over the past year, and all of us here know how mistrustful you are of your healthcare providers and what they tell you. Even after all your scans and exams informing you that nothing significant (as in disabling) is organically wrong with your retina/optic nerve/eye you refuse to accept it. You're searching for a new bogey man now that the previous worry has been addressed. You're so conditioned to have something wrong, you're searching for it. When one problem goes away you need to replace it with something else. In a way you're addicted to this heightened state of worry/awareness.
OK, an anecdote FWIW. Not about vision issues (or perceived vision issues) but more related to managing fear about a new health worry. Three years ago I had a cardiac thrombosis that triggered a mild heart attack. I've never had any heart problems, don't have any form of cardiovascular disease, no high BP, nothing. It took a lot of testing to pinpoint the original trigger for it but eventually they determined that I have (and probably always did have) supraventricular tachycardia to varying degrees. It had never caused trouble up until then. Even though I now take a blood thinner to protect from another clot or resulting stroke, a whole new world of potential worries got lodged in my brain. The SVT is progressing to the point I end up with periodic episodes of A-fib too. According to my cardiologist, A-fib is "the lower back pain of the cardiology world". Annoying and fairly frightening when it happens, but I'm just not going to fall over dead when it does. I went through a period when I was hyper-focused on every heartbeat, every flutter, every blip in BP, every time I felt even slightly tired or lightheaded even if the true cause for it was dehydration or low blood sugar. Of course the more anxious I got about some symptom the worse whatever it was got due to anxiety/adrenalin. A never ending miserable cycle. I had to re-learn what was a true concern that needed attention and what wasn't. It can be a hard lesson to learn...reminding yourself that you aren't actually as badly off as you've convinced yourself you are. Gotta re-learn not to search every bush for that bogey man.
If this was me I'd do what I could to make myself calm down about eye-related things for a while. Re-evaluate whether this is actually affecting your life or not. The exams you sat through aren't infallible because they rely on YOUR reports...and if you're already anxious and anticipating the worst, you can negatively influence your own results. I know the visual field exam you described...taken one many times. Its easy to psyche yourself out while doing it...one ophthalmologist commented how often the results are skewed by a patient's false reports.
Another somewhat off-the-wall idea to pursue. What about investigating peripheral vision exercises used by people with macular degeneration? I know several people who've been living with macular degeneration for a number of years. Don't recall which types. Aside from the various medications, they were given several exercises to strengthen peripheral vision so they could compensate for losing some central visual field. According to them they seemed to help quite a bit. Part of it may be building more confidence in their vision in general and the knowledge that they can take steps to improve their own quality of life.
He attributed my poor results to: 1) my not being used to the exam or 2) the person giving me the exam not giving me enough time.
I don't understand these. 1. you've had this exam before? or was this some new iteration? 2. from what I've experienced the person turns on the machine and it does it's thing, the person giving the test doesn't do any controlling of the exam.
Sorry to be posting here again, but I am feeling somewhat distressed and stumped. I think I am having a problem with the peripheral vision on my left side. When I hold I test myself, I can see something at 95 degrees away from the center on with right eye, but only about 70 degrees from the center with my left.
I am concerned about this because I just got back from an optometrist (a new guy) where I did poorly on one one these tests where you need to press a button when you see a little flashing light. I sat there for a long periods of time not doing anything because I did see any flashing lights at all. Then I would see some lights. I was concerned about the test results and my optometrist told me that there was almost certainly nothing to worry about. I didn’t have glaucoma (I have never had an eye pressure test that was out of normal range … and I have had a lot of intraocular pressure tests). My retina looked really healthy, according to him. I am not diabetic, or even “pre-diabetic.” He attributed my poor results to: 1) my not being used to the exam or 2) the person giving me the exam not giving me enough time.
I have seen a slew of eye professionals this year. I have gotten my peripheral vision tested a lot and I always seem to be having problems with it. At another optometrist, they called in a second nurse to try with me because the first one failed (or maybe it was me). I couldn’t see fingers where I was supposed to see fingers at a number of cataract surgeons I consulted with. They (or their assistants) didn’t say anything, but I did see something like “visual field defect” in my visit notes. But I never used to have a “visual field defect.”
So, in spite of my new optometrist trying to allay my fears I think there might indeed be something wrong. But I am not sure what to do about it or whether I should even take action at this point. Normally, the advice would be to go see an eye professional, but it feels like that is basically all I have done over the past year. I literally cannot even remember how many visits I have had, but I have had at least 19 eye-related medical visits in the last calendar year (optometrists; cataract surgeons, retinal surgeon) and am feeling weary. But on the plus side, my vision is now (two surgeries later) 20/20 in both eyes!
Anyway, what could this possibly be? I did a quick Google search for peripheral vision loss, and I don’t seem to have any conditions mentioned. I was wondering maybe an eye stroke, but I don’t have hypertension, heart disease, etc. and am still young.
And what to do? Who should I see about it if I’ve already seen a lot of specialists and they have apparently just noted that I have a defect without further ado or even mentioning it to me (just writing it in my notes)?
BTW, the eye with the peripheral vision problems was not the eye with the operations. It is in my “good” eye.
Too many words, I just read the last two paragraphs but got enough from that to suggest that you start with the Dr that you saw for your "good eye" and ask him/her
In your previous post you mentioned that your prescription in the left eye was about a -14/15
Did you do the visual field exam with your glasses on?
Did they patch the right eye During the test?
Since the doctors don’t seem to be concerned I would assume you have visual interference from the good eye.
Having administered thousands of these tests I can tell you that it would be almost impossible for the person administering the test having any impact on your results.
Due to the many eye issues you have had in the past the doctor would have sent you right off to a specialist and there been any reason for concern
That would be far sighted issues. Cannot see when the object or word are far away. But can see close by object. And the other would be needing reading glasses. Some of them just go for the bi-focal glasses. A doctor can straighten out a far sighted problem. A good glasses does wonders. Prescription
In your previous post you mentioned that your prescription in the left eye was about a -14/15
Did you do the visual field exam with your glasses on?
Did they patch the right eye During the test?
Since the doctors don’t seem to be concerned I would assume you have visual interference from the good eye.
Having administered thousands of these tests I can tell you that it would be almost impossible for the person administering the test having any impact on your results.
Due to the many eye issues you have had in the past the doctor would have sent you right off to a specialist and there been any reason for concern
Thanks for mentioning this and making me feel better. I am still not sure why I’ve had issues on some field of vision tests recently, but I do think I may have screwed up when I tested myself at home. I think I was having more problems w the peripheral vision on my right because the lighting was unequal - the left was considerably better lit than the right. When I tried again in an area well-lit all around, the peripheral field of vision on both sides seemed more equal (and not so bad).
I am mainly just stressing about my up-coming vision test for driver’s license renewal. My optometrist said he didn’t think I would have any problems passing it. Trying to believe him …
My wife gets ocular migraines. They manifest themselves in different ways even to the same person. For my wife, they come on with little or no warning and usually resolve themselves in about 10 minutes, though sometimes they can last much longer. She has had them happen bad enough where she has to pull off the road and wait for them to pass. An ocular migraine tends to only affect one eye.
“These aren't like vision problems that occur with normal migraines. When the wife gets an ocular migraine her head doesn't hurt at all.”
Most people do you get a slight headache after having an ocular migraine.
Taking some ibuprofen or Tylenol while waiting for the ocular migraine to pass can often be helpful
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